Dock levelers are used in warehouses to provide a bridge between the floor of the warehouse and a motor vehicle such as a semitrailer. In a typical application the vehicle is backed up to a warehouse for loading or unloading. At least two problems exist in providing a bridge between the bed of the truck and the loading dock.
One problem is that the trailer bed may be of a different height than the floor of the loading dock. The second problem is that there is a gap between the end of the trailer bed and the floor of the loading dock. To solve both of these problems, dock levelers are used.
The dock leveler can be raised or lowered to the level of the vehicle bed. A portion of the dock leveler, typically the lip, is inserted in the vehicle and rests the bed of the vehicle to provide a bridge between the bed of the vehicle and the loading dock.
One type of dock leveler, sometimes referred to as a pit leveler, is located in a pit that is sunken below the surface of the floor of the loading dock. When the dock leveler is mounted into a pit, a deck portion of the dock leveler is typically stored at a location that is level with the surrounding loading dock floor. Because of the desirability of having the dock leveler deck stored level with the loading dock floor, installation of the dock leveler into a pit should account for variances often associated with manufacturing tolerances in the dock leveler and/or in the depth of the pit.
Often, when installing dock levelers into pits, a dock leveler frame is placed on the floor of the pit and then the dock leveler frame is shimmed at various places in order to ensure that the deck of the dock leveler is level with the surrounding dock floor when the deck is in a stored position.
Shimming the frame when installing a dock leveler is one way to address the problem of ensuring that the dock leveler deck is level with the surrounding dock floor in view of variances of pit floor depth associated with different pits and manufacturing tolerances of the dock leveler itself. However, installing shims beneath the frame of a dock leveler to level the leveler can time and labor intensive. In addition, it is often imprecise.
For example, when an installer installs a dock leveler, the installer must bring many shims of various thickness to in order to be prepared to attempt to level a dock lever under a wide range of variances in pit depth and dock leveler height.
An additional problem in using shims to level a dock leveler is that shims are of a discrete thickness. As such, there is a limitation as to how level a dock leveler deck can be with the surrounding dock floor. In some situations, a dock leveler deck can be slightly below the level of the surrounding dock floor, however, adding even the thinnest shim, can put the dock leveler deck slightly above the level of the surrounding dock floor. Thus, shims can be limited in how level they can make a dock leveler deck with the surrounding dock floor.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus to install a dock leveler into a pit and to provide for a way to level the deck of the dock leveler when the deck is in a stored position to be level with the surrounding warehouse floor in a simple, efficient and more precise manner.